Search results for: single agent control

Authors: Dalia Salem, Detlef Schulz

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As Germany pursues its ambitious plan towards a power system based on renewable energy sources, the necessity to establish steady, robust microgrids becomes more evident. Inside the microgrid, there is at least one grid-forming inverter responsible for generating the coupling voltage and stabilizing the system frequency within the standardized accepted limits when the microgrid is forced to operate as a stand-alone power system. Grid-forming control for distributed inverters is required to enable steady control of a low-inertia power system. In this paper, a designed droop control technique is tested at the controller of an inverter as a component of a hardware test bed to understand the microgrid behavior in two modes of operation: i) grid-connected and ii) operating in islanding mode. This droop technique includes many current and voltage inner control loops, where the Q-V and P-f droop provide the required terminal output voltage and frequency. The technique is tested first in a simulation model of the inverter in MATLAB/SIMULINK, and the results are compared to the results of the hardware laboratory test. The results of this experiment illuminate the pivotal role of the grid-forming inverter in facilitating microgrid resilience during grid disconnection events and how microgrids could provide the functionality formerly provided by synchronous machinery, such as the black start process.

Keywords: microgrid, grid-forming inverters, droop-control, islanding-operation

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Authors: Samuel Knox, Verdon Crann, Peyman Amiri, William Crowther

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There exists a shortage of open-source firmware for allowing researchers to focus on implementing high-level planning and control strategies for multi aerial robotic systems in simulation and experiment. Within this body of work, practical firmware is presented, which performs all supplementary tasks, including communications, pre and post-experiment procedures, and emergency safety measures. This allows researchers to implement high-level planning and control algorithms for path planning, traffic management, flight formation and swarming of aerial robots. The framework is built in Python using the MAVSDK library, which is compatible with flight controllers running PX4 firmware and onboard computers based on Linux. Communication is performed using Wi-Fi and the MQTT protocol, currently implemented using a centralized broker. Finally, a graphical user interface (GUI) has been developed to send general commands and monitor the agents. This framework enables researchers to prepare customized planning and control algorithms in a modular manner. Studies can be performed experimentally and in simulation using PX4 software in the loop (SITL) and the Gazebo simulator. An example experimental use case of the framework is presented using novel distributed planning and control strategies. The demonstration is performed using off-the-shelf components and minimal setup.

Keywords: aerial robotics, distributed framework, experimental, planning and control

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Authors: Enrique Barbieri

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The basic disease-spread model described by three states denoting the susceptible (S), infectious (I), and removed (recovered and deceased) (R) sub-groups of the total population N, or SIR model, has been considered. Heuristic mitigating action profiles of the pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical types may be developed in a control design setting for the purpose of reducing the transmission rate or improving the recovery rate parameters in the model. Even though the transmission and recovery rates are not control inputs in the traditional sense, a linear observer and feedback controller can be tuned to generate an asymptotic estimate of the transmission rate for a linearized, discrete-time version of the SIR model. Then, a set of mitigating actions is suggested to steer the basic reproduction number toward unity, in which case the disease does not spread, and the infected population state does not suffer from multiple waves. The special case of piecewise constant transmission rate is described and applied to a seventh-order SEIQRDP model, which segments the population into four additional states. The offline simulations in discrete time may be used to produce heuristic policies implemented by public health and government organizations.

Keywords: control of SIR, observer, SEIQRDP, disease spread

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Authors: Richa Shri, Varinder Singh, Kundan Singh Bora, Abhishek Bhanot, Rahul Kumar, Amit Kumar, Ravinder Kaur

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The term ‘neuroprotection’ means preserving/salvaging function and structure of neurons. Neuroprotection is an adjunctive treatment option for neurodegenerative disorders. Oxidative stress is considered a major culprit in neurodegenerative disorders; hence, management strategies include use of antioxidants. Our search for a neuroprotective agent began with Allium cepa L. or onions, (family Amaryllidaceae) - a potent antioxidant. We have investigated the neuroprotective potential of onions in experimental models of ischemic stroke, diabetic neuropathy, neuropathic pain, and dementia. In pre and post-ischemic stroke model, the methanol extract of outer scales of onion bulbs (MEOS) prevented memory loss and motor in-coordination; reduced oxidative stress and cerebral infarct size. This also prevented and ameliorated diabetic neuropathy in mice. The MEOS was fractionated to yield a flavonoid rich fraction (FRF) that successfully reversed ischemia-reperfusion induced neuronal damage, thereby demonstrating that the flavonoids are responsible for the activity. The FRF effectively ameliorated chronic constriction induced neuropathic pain in rats. The FRF was subjected to bioactivity-guided fractionated. It was seen that FRF is more effective as compared to the isolated components probably due to synergism among the constituents (i.e., quercetin and quercetin glucosides) in the FRF. The outer scales of onion bulbs have great potential for prevention as well as for treatment of neuronal disorders. Red onions, with higher amounts of flavonoids as compared to the white onions, produced more significant neuroprotection. Thus, the standardized FRF from the waste material of a commonly used vegetable, especially the red variety, may be developed as a valuable neuroprotective agent.

Keywords: Allium cepa, antioxidant activity, flavonoid rich fraction, neuroprotection

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Authors: Koichi Yonemoto, Hiroshi Yamasaki, Masatomo Ichige, Yusuke Ura, Guna S. Gossamsetti, Takumi Ohki, Kento Shirakata, Ahsan R. Choudhuri, Shinji Ishimoto, Takashi Mugitani, Hiroya Asakawa, Hideaki Nanri

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This paper presents the strategic development plan of winged rockets WIRES (WInged REusable Sounding rocket) aiming at unmanned suborbital winged rocket for demonstrating future fully reusable space transportation technologies, such as aerodynamics, Navigation, Guidance and Control (NGC), composite structure, propulsion system, and cryogenic tanks etc., by universities in collaboration with government and industries, as well as the past and current flight test results.

Keywords: autonomous guidance and control, reusable rocket, space transportation system, suborbital vehicle, winged rocket

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Authors: Darren J. Ellis

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This paper investigates the key industry-level consequences and future prospects for the global airline industry of the requirement for airlines to have a home base. This industry context results in geographical location playing a central role in determining how and where international airlines can operate, and the extent to which their international networks can develop. Data from a five stage mixed-methods Delphi study into the global airline industry’s likely future trajectory conducted in 2013 and 2014 are utilized to better understand the likelihood and consequences of home base requirements changing in future. Expert views and forecasts were collected to gauge core industry trends over a ten year timeframe. Attempts to change or bypass this industry requirement have not been successful to date outside of the European single air market. Europe remains the only prominent exception to the general rule in this regard. Most of the industry is founded on air space sovereignty, the nationality rule, and the bilateral system of traffic rights. Europe’s exceptionalism has seen it evolve into a single air market with characteristics similar to a nation-state, rather than to become a force for wider industry change and regional multilateralism. Europe has indeed become a key actor in global aviation, but Europe seems to now be part of the industry’s status quo, not a vehicle for substantially wider multilateralism around the world. The findings from this research indicate that the bilateral system is not viewed by most study experts as disappearing or substantially weakening in the foreseeable future. However, regional multilateralism was also viewed as progressively taking hold in the industry in future, demonstrating that for most industry experts the two are not seen as mutually exclusive but rather as being able to co-exist with each other. This reality ensures that geographical location will continue to play an important role in the global airline industry in future and that, home base requirements will not disappear any time soon either. Even moves in some aviation jurisdictions to dilute nationality requirements for airlines, and instead replace ownership and control restrictions with principal place of business tests, do not ultimately free airlines from their home base. Likewise, an expansion of what constitutes home base to include a regional grouping of countries – again, a currently uncommon reality in global aviation – does not fundamentally weaken the continued relevance of geographical location to the global industry’s future growth and development realities and prospects.

Keywords: airline industry, air space sovereignty, geographical location, home base

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Authors: Woei-Shyan Lee, Shuo-Ling Chang

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The nanoindentation behaviour and phase transformation of annealed single-crystal silicon wafers are examined. The silicon specimens are annealed at temperatures of 250, 350 and 450ºC, respectively, for 15 minutes and are then indented to maximum loads of 30, 50 and 70 mN. The phase changes induced in the indented specimens are observed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and micro-Raman scattering spectroscopy (RSS). For all annealing temperatures, an elbow feature is observed in the unloading curve following indentation to a maximum load of 30 mN. Under higher loads of 50 mN and 70 mN, respectively, the elbow feature is replaced by a pop-out event. The elbow feature reveals a complete amorphous phase transformation within the indented zone, whereas the pop-out event indicates the formation of Si XII and Si III phases. The experimental results show that the formation of these crystalline silicon phases increases with an increasing annealing temperature and indentation load. The hardness and Young’s modulus both decrease as the annealing temperature and indentation load are increased.

Keywords: nanoindentation, silicon, phase transformation, amorphous, annealing

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Authors: Shadab Shishegar, Sophie Duchesne, Genevieve Pelletier

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Sustainability as one of the key elements of Smart cities, can be realized by employing Real Time Control Strategies for city’s infrastructures. Nowadays Stormwater management systems play an important role in mitigating the impacts of urbanization on natural hydrological cycle. These systems can be managed in such a way that they meet the smart cities standards. In fact, there is a huge potential for sustainable management of urban stormwater and also its adaptability to global challenges like climate change. Hence, a dynamically managed system that can adapt itself to instability of the environmental conditions is desirable. A Global Predictive Real Time Control approach is proposed in this paper to optimize the performance of stormwater management basins in terms of flooding prevention. To do so, a mathematical optimization model is developed then solved using Genetic Algorithm (GA). Results show an improved performance at system-level for the stormwater basins in comparison to static strategy.

Keywords: environmental sustainability, optimization, real time control, storm water management

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Authors: Pui Hong Chung, Cyrus Leung, Jun Li, Kin On Kwok, Ek Yeoh

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Introduction: Studies for TB control in intermediate tuberculosis burden countries (IBCs) comprise a relatively small proportion in TB control literature, as compared to the effort put in high and low burden counterparts. It currently lacks of consensus in the optimal weapons and strategies we can use to combat TB in IBCs; guidelines of TB control are inadequate and thus posing a great obstacle in eliminating TB in these countries. To fill-in the research and services gap, we need to summarize the findings of the effort in this regard and to seek consensus in terms of policy making for TB control, we have devised a series of scoping and Delphi studies for these purposes. Method: The scoping and Delphi studies are conducted in parallel to feed information for each other. Before the Delphi iterations, we have invited three local experts in TB control in Hong Kong to participate in the pre-assessment round of the Delphi study to comments on the validity, relevance, and clarity of the Delphi questionnaire. Result: Two scoping studies, regarding LTBI control in health care workers in IBCs and TB control in elderly of IBCs respectively, have been conducted. The result of these two studies is used as the foundation for developing the Delphi questionnaire, which tapped on seven areas of question, namely: characteristics of IBCs, adequacy of research and services in LTBI control in IBCs, importance and feasibility of interventions for TB control and prevention in hospital, screening and treatment of LTBI in community, reasons of refusal to/ default from LTBI treatment, medical adherence of LTBI treatment, and importance and feasibility of interventions for TB control and prevention in elderly in IBCs. The local experts also commented on the two scoping studies conducted, thus act as the sixth phase of expert consultation in Arksey and O’Malley framework of scoping studies, to either nourish the scope and strategies used in these studies or to supplement ideas for further scoping or systematic review studies. In the subsequent stage, an international expert panel, comprised of 15 to 20 experts from IBCs in Western Pacific Region, will be recruited to join the two-round anonymous Delphi iterations. Four categories of TB control experts, namely clinicians, policy makers, microbiologists/ laboratory personnel, and public health clinicians will be our target groups. A consensus level of 80% is used to determine the achievement of consensus on particular issues. Key messages: 1. Scoping review and Delphi method are useful to identify gaps and then achieve consensus in research. 2. Lots of resources are put in the high burden countries now. However, the usually neglected intermediate-burden countries with TB is an indispensable part for achieving the ambitious WHO End TB 2035 target.

Keywords: dephi questionnaire, tuberculosis, WHO, latent TB infection

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Authors: Vladimíra Hornáčková

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This paper points out at the importance of creativity development in children of preschool age and analyses certain conditions and pedagogical principles which should be respected during the development of creativity in kindergartens. Research survey focuses on the development of creativity reflection at children in kindergartens at preschool age and based on a test of creativity it compares creativity of children in experimental and control groups. The goal is to find out if there are any differences among children in experimental and control classrooms in kindergartens; wherein experimental groups, there is preschool education with the use of drama education while in control groups there is not. On the basis of certain aspects, the gained data is compared through descriptive methods and correlations. Research results refer to reserves in creativity development in modern pre-primary education in the context of implemented and expected changes in didactic approach in the education of kindergartens.

Keywords: preschool child, drama in education, research, test of creativity

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Authors: Kailas S. Jagtap, Karthik Sundarraj, Nirmal Kumar, S. Rajnarasimha, Prakash S. Kulkarni

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The issue of turbulence base streams and the drag related to it have been of important attention for rockets, missiles, and aircraft. Different techniques are used for base drag reduction. This paper presents the numerical study of numerous drag reduction technique. The base drag or afterbody drag of bluff bodies can be reduced easily using locked vortex drag reduction technique. For bluff bodies having a cylindrical shape, the base drag is much larger compared to streamlined bodies. For such bodies using splitter plates, the vortex can be trapped between the base and the plate, which results in smooth flow. Splitter plate with round and curved corner shapes has influence in drag reduction. In this paper, the comparison is done between single splitter plate as different positions and with the bluff body. Base drag for the speed of 30m/s can be reduced about 20% to 30% by using single splitter plate as compared to the bluff body.

Keywords: base drag, bluff body, splitter plate, vortex flow, ANSYS, fluent

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Authors: Mogale Sabone, Thabiso Ntlole

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The pressure from globalization has made manufacturing organizations to move towards three major competitive arenas: quality, cost, and responsiveness. Quality is a universal value and has become a global issue. In order to survive and be able to provide customers with good products, manufacturing organizations’ supporting systems, tools, and structures it uses must grow or evolve. The majority of quality management concepts and strategies that are practiced recently are aimed at detecting and correcting problems which already exist and serve to limit losses. In agile manufacturing environment there is no room for defect and error so it needs a quality management which is proactively directed at problem prevention. This proactive quality management avoids losses by focusing on failure prevention, virtual elimination of the possibility of premature failure, mistake-proofing, and assuring consistently high quality in the definition and design of creation processes. To achieve this, a decision support tool for quality control and management is suggested. Current decision support tools/methods used by most manufacturing companies in Botswana for quality management and control are not integrated, for example they are not consistent since some tests results data is recorded manually only whilst others are recorded electronically. It is only a set of procedures not a tool. These procedures cannot offer interactive decision support. This point brings to light the aim of this research which is to develop a framework which will help manufacturing companies in Botswana build a decision support tool for quality control and management.

Keywords: decision support tool, manufacturing, quality control, quality management

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Authors: L. Ebralidze, A. Tsertsvadze, D. Berashvili, A. Bakuridze

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Current cancer therapy strategies are based on surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The problems associated with chemotherapy are one of the biggest challenges for clinical medicine. These include: low specificity, broad spectrum of side effects, toxicity and development of cellular resistance. Therefore, anti-cance drugs need to be develop urgently. Particularly, in order to increase efficiency of anti-cancer drugs and reduce their side effects, scientists work on formulation of nano-drugs. The objective of this study was to develop composition and technology of vincristine nanoparticles using high-molecular carbohydrates of plant origin. Plant polysacharides, particularly, soy bean seed polysaccharides, flaxseed polysaccharides, citrus pectin, gum arabic, sodium alginate were used as objects. Based on biopharmaceutical research, vincristine containing nanoparticle formulations were prepared. High-energy emulsification and solvent evaporation methods were used for preparation of nanosystems. Polysorbat 80, polysorbat 60, sodium dodecyl sulfate, glycerol, polyvinyl alcohol were used in formulation as emulsifying agent and stabilizer of the system. The ratio of API and polysacharides, also the type of the stabilizing and emulsifying agents are very effective on the particle size of the final product. The influence of preparation technology, type and concentration of stabilizing agents on the properties of nanoparticles were evaluated. For the next stage of research, nanosystems were characterized. Physiochemical characterization of nanoparticles: their size, shape, distribution was performed using Atomic force microscope and Scanning electron microscope. The present study explored the possibility of production of NPs using plant polysaccharides. Optimal ratio of active pharmaceutical ingredient and plant polysacharids, the best stabilizer and emulsifying agent was determined. The average range of nanoparticles size and shape was visualized by SEM.

Keywords: nanoparticles, target delivery, natural high molecule carbohydrates, surfactants

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Authors: C. E. Madubueze, S. C. Madubueze, S. Ajama

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Cholera is a disease that is predominately common in developing countries due to poor sanitation and overcrowding population. In this paper, a deterministic model for the dynamics of cholera is developed and control measures such as health educational message, therapeutic treatment, and vaccination are incorporated in the model. The effective reproduction number is computed in terms of the model parameters. The existence and stability of the equilibrium states, disease free and endemic equilibrium states are established and showed to be locally and globally asymptotically stable when R0 < 1 and R0 > 1 respectively. The existence of backward bifurcation of the model is investigated. Furthermore, numerical simulation of the model developed is carried out to show the impact of the control measures and the result indicates that combined control measures will help to reduce the spread of cholera in the population

Keywords: backward bifurcation, cholera, equilibrium, dynamics, stability

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Authors: Shweta Shriwas, Sumeet Dwivedi, Raghvendra Dubey

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Plumeria pudica Linn. Family Apocynaceae commonly known as Nag Chmapa is grown wildly in many parts of India. The plant is medium size shrub, grown up to height of 5-10 feet, evergreen with white flowers. In traditional system of medicine, the plant is widely used in the treatment of worms, infection, inflammation, etc. So, far no any systematic and documented study was done to revealed quality control parameters and pharmacological aspect of the selected plant species, therefore, the attempt was made in present investigation to reveal the same. The parameters such as Ash value, FOM, LOD, SI, etc. were studied using various coarsely dried plant materials of the species. Analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anthelmentic and anti-microbial activity of various extract was investigated and reported in present work.

Keywords: Plumeria pudica, quality control, pharmacology, parameters

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Authors: Kouzi Katia

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This paper proposes a Direct Torque Control (DTC) algorithm of dual Stator Induction Motor (DSIM) drive using two approach intelligent techniques: Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approach replaces the switching table selector block of conventional DTC and Mamdani Fuzzy Logic controller (FLC) is used for stator resistance estimation. The fuzzy estimation method is based on an online stator resistance correction through the variations of stator current estimation error and its variation. The fuzzy logic controller gives the future stator resistance increment at the output. The main advantage of suggested algorithm control is to reduce the hardware complexity of conventional selectors, to avoid the drive instability that may occur in certain situation and ensure the tracking of the actual of the stator resistance. The effectiveness of the technique and the improvement of the whole system performance are proved by results.

Keywords: artificial neural network, direct torque control, dual stator induction motor, fuzzy logic estimator, switching table

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Authors: Arash Esmaeili, Zhibang Liu, Yang Xiang, Jimmy Yun, Lei Shao

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A high pressure carbon dioxide (CO₂) absorption from a specific gas in a conventional column has been evaluated by the Aspen HYSYS simulator using a wide range of single absorbents and blended solutions to estimate the outlet CO₂ concentration, absorption efficiency and CO₂ loading to choose the most proper solution in terms of CO₂ capture for environmental concerns. The property package (Acid Gas-Chemical Solvent) which is compatible with all applied solutions for the simulation in this study, estimates the properties based on an electrolyte non-random two-liquid (E-NRTL) model for electrolyte thermodynamics and Peng-Robinson equation of state for the vapor and liquid hydrocarbon phases. Among all the investigated single amines as well as blended solutions, piperazine (PZ) and the mixture of piperazine and monoethanolamine (MEA) have been found as the most effective absorbents respectively for CO₂ absorption with high reactivity based on the simulated operational conditions.

Keywords: absorption, amine solutions, Aspen HYSYS, carbon dioxide, simulation

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Authors: Samuel O. Alamu, Seong W. Lee, Blaise Kalmia, Marc J. Louise Caballes, Xuejun Qian

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The application of combustion technologies for thermal conversion of biomass and solid wastes to energy has been a major solution to the effective handling of wastes over a long period of time. Lab-scale biomass combustion systems have been observed to be economically viable and socially acceptable, but major concerns are the environmental impacts of the process and deviation of temperature distribution within the combustion chamber. Both high and low combustion chamber temperature may affect the overall combustion efficiency and gaseous emissions. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a control system which measures the deviations of chamber temperature from set target values, sends these deviations (which generates disturbances in the system) in the form of feedback signal (as input), and control operating conditions for correcting the errors. In this research study, major components of the feedback control system were determined, assembled, and tested. In addition, control algorithms were developed to actuate operating conditions (e.g., air velocity, fuel feeding rate) using ladder logic functions embedded in the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). The developed control algorithm having chamber temperature as a feedback signal is integrated into the lab-scale swirling fluidized bed combustor (SFBC) to investigate the temperature distribution at different heights of the combustion chamber based on various operating conditions. The air blower rates and the fuel feeding rates obtained from automatic control operations were correlated with manual inputs. There was no observable difference in the correlated results, thus indicating that the written PLC program functions were adequate in designing the experimental study of the lab-scale SFBC. The experimental results were analyzed to study the effect of air velocity operating at 222-273 ft/min and fuel feeding rate of 60-90 rpm on the chamber temperature. The developed temperature-based feedback control system was shown to be adequate in controlling the airflow and the fuel feeding rate for the overall biomass combustion process as it helps to minimize the steady-state error.

Keywords: air flow, biomass combustion, feedback control signal, fuel feeding, ladder logic, programmable logic controller, temperature

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Authors: Suchao Donpudsa, Suwattana Visetnan, Anchalee Tassanakajon, Vichien Rimphanitchayakit

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The Single Wap Domain (SWD) is a type III crustin antimicrobial peptide whose function is to defense the host animal against the bacterial infection by means of antimicrobial and antiproteinase activities. A study of LvSWD from Litopenaeus vannamei is reported herein about its activities and function against bacteria, particularly the Vibrio parahaemolyticus AHPND (VPAHPND) that causes acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease. The over-expressed mature recombinant (r)LvSWD exhibits antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, especially VPAHPND. With four times the MIC of rLvSWD, the treated post larval shrimp infected by VPAHPND is able to survive longer with the 50% survival rate as long as 78 h as compared to 36 h of the infected shrimp without rLvSWD. To a certain extent, we have demonstrated that the rLvSWD can be applied to protect the post larval shrimp.

Keywords: crustin, Litopenaeus vannamei, Vibrio parahaemolyticus AHPND, antimicrobial activity

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Authors: Vijay Kumar Kolagani, Yingcai Xiao

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Adaptation of Natural User Interface (NUI) has been slow and limited. NUI devices like Microsoft’s Kinect and Ultraleap’s Leap Motion can only interact with a handful applications that were specifically designed and implemented for them. A NUI device just can’t be used to directly control millions of applications that are not designed to take NUI input. This is in the similar situation like the adaptation of color TVs. At the early days of color TV, the broadcasting format was in RGB, which was not viewable by blackand-white TVs. TV broadcasters were reluctant to produce color programs due to limited viewership. TV viewers were reluctant to buy color TVs because there were limited programs to watch. Color TV’s breakthrough moment came after the adaptation of NTSC standard which allowed color broadcasts to be compatible with the millions of existing black-and-white TVs. This research presents a framework to use NUI devices to control existing non-NUI applications without reprogramming them. The methodology is to create an adapter to convert input from NUI devices into input compatible with that generated by CLI (Command Line Input) and GUI (Graphical User Interface) devices. The CLI/GUI compatible input is then sent to the active application through the operating system just like any input from a CLI/GUI device to control the non-NUI program that the user is controlling. A sample adapter has been created to convert input from Kinect to keyboard strokes, so one can use the input from Kinect to control any applications that take keyboard input, such as Microsoft’s PowerPoint. When the users use the adapter to control their PowerPoint presentations, they can free themselves from standing behind a computer to use its keyboard and can roam around in front of the audience to use hand gestures to control the PowerPoint. It is hopeful such adapters can accelerate the adaptation of NUI devices.

Keywords: command line input, graphical user interface, human computer interaction, natural user interface, NUI adapter

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Authors: Muhammad Zaheer Babar, Amer Kashif, Muhammad Rizwan Javed

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Nowadays distributed generation integration is best way to overcome the increasing load demand. Optimal allocation of distributed generation plays a vital role in reducing system losses and improves voltage profile. In this paper, a Meta heuristic technique is proposed for allocation of DG in order to reduce power losses and improve voltage profile. The proposed technique is based on Multi Objective Particle Swarm optimization. Fewer control parameters are needed in this algorithm. Modification is made in search space of PSO. The effectiveness of proposed technique is tested on IEEE 33 bus test system. Single DG as well as multiple DG scenario is adopted for proposed method. Proposed method is more effective as compared to other Meta heuristic techniques and gives better results regarding system losses and voltage profile.

Keywords: Distributed generation (DG), Multi Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO), particle swarm optimization (PSO), IEEE standard Test System

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Authors: Kwok W. Mui, Ling T. Wong, F. Xiao, Chin T. Cheung, Ho C. Yu

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This study addresses a concept of the Sustainable Building Environmental Model (SBEM) developed to optimize energy consumption in air conditioning and ventilation (ACV) systems without any deterioration of indoor environmental quality (IEQ). The SBEM incorporates two main components: an adaptive comfort temperature control module (ACT) and a new carbon dioxide demand control module (nDCV). These two modules take an innovative approach to maintain satisfaction of the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) with optimum energy consumption, they provide a rational basis of effective control. A total of 2133 sets of measurement data of indoor air temperature (Ta), relative humidity (Rh) and carbon dioxide concentration (CO2) were conducted in some Hong Kong offices to investigate the potential of integrating the SBEM. A simulation was used to evaluate the dynamic performance of the energy and air conditioning system with the integration of the SBEM in an air-conditioned building. It allows us make a clear picture of the control strategies and performed any pre-tuned of controllers before utilized in real systems. With the integration of SBEM, it was able to save up to 12.3% in simulation and 15% in field measurement of overall electricity consumption, and maintain the average carbon dioxide concentration within 1000ppm and occupant dissatisfaction in 20%.

Keywords: sustainable building environmental model (SBEM), adaptive comfort temperature (ACT), new demand control ventilation (nDCV), energy saving

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Authors: Rattanathip Rattanachai, Piyachai Petchyen, Kunyanuth Kularbphettong

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This paper describes the development of a Weight- Balancing Control System based on the Android Operating System and it provides recommendations on ways of balancing of user’s weight based on daily metabolism process and need so that user can make informed decisions on his or her weight controls. The system also depicts more information on nutrition details. Furthermore, it was designed to suggest to users what kinds of foods they should eat and how to exercise in the right ways. We describe the design methods and functional components of this prototype. To evaluate the system performance, questionnaires for system usability and Black Box Testing were used to measure expert and user satisfaction. The results were satisfactory as followed: Means for experts and users were 3.94 and 4.07 respectively.

Keywords: weight-balancing control, Android operating system, daily metabolism, black box testing

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Authors: S. Abdulkadir, I. Y. Moh’d, S. U. Kunya, U. Nuruddeen

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The basis of any contract formation between the client and contractor is the budgeted cost and the estimated duration of projects. These variables are paramount important to project's sponsor in a construction projects and in assessing the success or viability of construction projects. Despite the availability of various techniques of cost and time control, many projects failed to achieve their initial estimated cost and time. The paper evaluate the inhibiting factors of cost and time control in Nigerian construction practice and comparing the result with the United Kingdom practice as identified by one researcher. The populations of the study are construction professionals within Bauchi and Gombe state, Nigeria, a judgmental sampling employed in determining the size of respondents. Descriptive statistics used in analyzing the data in SPSS. Design change, project fraud and corruption, financing and payment of completed work found to be common among the top five inhibiting factors of cost and time control in the study area. Furthermore, the result had shown some comprising with slight contrast as in the case of United Kingdom practice. Study recommend the adaptation of mitigation measures developed in the UK prior to assessing its effectiveness and so also developing a mitigating measure for other top factors that are not within the one developed in United Kingdom practice. Also, it recommends a wider assessing comparison on the modify inhibiting factors of cost and time control as revealed by the study to cover almost all part of Nigeria.

Keywords: comparison, cost, inhibiting factor, United Kingdom, time

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Authors: S. M. Abdullah Al Mamun

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Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is an excellent area for the researchers to make daily life more simple and fast. Necessary hardware equipments for any BCI are generally expensive and not affordable for most of the people. Emotiv is one of the solutions for this problem, which can provide electroencephalograph (EEG) signal and explain the brain activities. BCI virtual speller was one of the important applications for the people who have lost their hand or speaking ability because of diseases or unexpected accident. In this paper, a matrix speller has been designed for the first time for Bengali speaking people around the world. Bengali is one of the most commonly spoken languages. Among them, a lot of disabled person will be able to express their desire in their mother tongue. This application is also usable for the social networks and daily life communications. For this virtual keyboard, the well-known matrix speller method with column flashing is applied and controlled by single Emokey only. Emokey is a great feature which translates emotional state for application inputs. In this paper, it is presented that the ITR (Information Transfer Rate) were 29.4 bits/min and typing speed achieved up to 7.43 char/per min.

Keywords: brain computer interface, Emotiv EPOC, EEG, virtual keyboard, matrix speller

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Authors: Shunichi Ohmori, Sirawadee Arunyanart, Kazuho Yoshimoto

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We consider a periodic review inventory control problem of minimizing production cost, inventory cost, and lost-sales under demand uncertainty, in which product demands are not specified exactly and it is only known to belong to a given uncertainty set, yet the constraints must hold for possible values of the data from the uncertainty set. We propose a robust optimization formulation for obtaining lowest cost possible and guaranteeing the feasibility with respect to range of order quantity and inventory level under demand uncertainty. Our formulation is based on the adaptive robust counterpart, which suppose order quantity is affine function of past demands. We derive certainty equivalent problem via second-order cone programming, which gives 'not too pessimistic' worst-case.

Keywords: robust optimization, inventory control, supply chain managment, second-order programming

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Authors: Kumaresh Selvakumar, Man Young Kim

Abstract:

Catalytic combustor substantially reduces emission entailing fuel-air premixing at very low equivalence ratios. The catalytic combustion of natural gas has the potential to become sufficiently active at light off temperature by the convection of heat from the catalyst surface. Only one channel is selected to investigate both the gas and surface reactions in the catalyst bed because of the honeycomb structure of the catalytic combustor. The objective of the present study is to find the methane catalytic combustion behavior inside the catalytic combustor, where the gas phase kinetics is employed by homogeneous methane combustion and surface chemistry is described with the heterogeneous catalysis of the oxidation of methane on a platinum catalyst. The reaction of the premixed mixture in the catalytic regime improves flame stability with complete combustion for lower operating flame temperature. An overview of the flow behavior is presented inside the single channel catalytic combustor including the operation of catalytic combustion with various F/A ratios and premixed inlet temperature.

Keywords: catalytic combustor, equivalence ratios, flame temperature, heterogeneous catalysis, homogeneous combustion

Procedia PDF Downloads 264

Authors: Naser Sabaghnia, Mohsen Janmohammadi, Mehdi Mohebodini

Abstract:

Present investigation is performed to evaluate the effects of foliar application of salicylic acid, glycine betaine, ascorbic acid, nano-silica, and nano-titanium dioxide on sunflower. Results showed that the first two principal components were sufficient to create a two-dimensional treatment by trait biplot, and such biplot accounted percentages of 49% and 19%, respectively of the interaction between traits and treatments. The vertex treatments of polygon were ascorbic acid, glycine betaine, nano-TiO₂, and control indicated that high performance in some important traits consists of number of days to seed maturity, number of seeds per head, number heads per single plant, hundred seed weight, seed length, seed yield performance, and oil content. Treatments suitable for obtaining the high seed yield were identified in the vector-view function of biplot and displayed nano-silica and nano titanium dioxide as the best treatments suitable for obtaining of high seed yield.

Keywords: drought stress, nano-silicon dioxide, oil content, TiO2 nanoparticles

Procedia PDF Downloads 338

Authors: Mahmood Khalghollah, Mohammad Tavallaeinejad, Mohammad Eghtesad

Abstract:

The method of Controlled Lagrangian is an energy shaping control technique for under actuated Lagrangian systems. Energy shaping control design methods are appealing as they retain the underlying nonlinear dynamics and can provide stability results that hold over larger domain than can be obtained using linear design and analysis. In the present study, controlled lagrangian is employed for designing a controller in an under actuated rotating flexible plate system. In the system of rotating flexible plate, due to its nonlinear characteristics and coupled dynamics of rigid and flexible components, controller design is a known challenge. In this paper, controller objectives are considered to be vibration reduction of flexible component and position control of the tip of the plate. To achieve the goals, a method based on both kinetic and potential energy shaping is introduced. The stability of the closed-loop system is investigated and proved around its equilibrium points. Moreover, the proposed controller is shown to be robust against disturbance and plant uncertainties.

Keywords: controlled lagrangian, underactuated system, flexible rotating plate, disturbance

Procedia PDF Downloads 446

Authors: Waleed Ahmed, Huang Xiaohua, Wilayat Ali

Abstract:

The wheelchair users are generally exposed to physical and psychological health problems, e.g., pressure sores and pain in the hip joint, associated with seating posture or being inactive in a wheelchair for a long time. Reclining Wheelchair with back, thigh, and leg adjustment helps in daily life activities and health preservation. The seat elevating function of an electric wheelchair allows the user (lower limb amputation) to reach different heights. An electric wheelchair is expected to ease the lives of the elderly and disable people by giving them mobility support and decreasing the percentage of accidents caused by users’ narrow sight or joystick operation errors. Thus, this paper proposed the design, analysis and obstacle avoidance control of an electric wheelchair with sit-sleep-seat elevation functions. A 3D model of a wheelchair is designed in SolidWorks that was later used for multi-body dynamic (MBD) analysis and to verify driving control system. The control system uses the fuzzy algorithm to avoid the obstacle by getting information in the form of distance from the ultrasonic sensor and user-specified direction from the joystick’s operation. The proposed fuzzy driving control system focuses on the direction and velocity of the wheelchair. The wheelchair model has been examined and proven in MSC Adams (Automated Dynamic Analysis of Mechanical Systems). The designed fuzzy control algorithm is implemented on Gazebo robotic 3D simulator using Robotic Operating System (ROS) middleware. The proposed wheelchair design enhanced mobility and quality of life by improving the user’s functional capabilities. Simulation results verify the non-accidental behavior of the electric wheelchair.

Keywords: fuzzy logic control, joystick, multi body dynamics, obstacle avoidance, scissor mechanism, sensor

Procedia PDF Downloads 129